fRESH. Maine. Scallops.

located in Brooksville Maine EVER EAT A FRESH PEACH? PICK A FRESH VINE RIPENED TOMATO?Eating scallops caught fresh daily from Maine's coastal waters is a comparable experience, you can see the brilliant color and taste the sushi-grade quality immediately. My scallops are so fresh they have been known to "Wiggle" in the frying pan at times.

MY MAINE SCALLOPS AND HISTORY

Scallops rinsed in sea water on the boat

Fresh Wild Maine Scallops are only available December - March. Other names you may commonly see used are "day boat scallops" "dry scallops" "sea scallops" and "Diver Scallops". My scallops are harvested fresh from the ocean floor with a seven foot chain sweep drag. Scallops are brought home and sold to you the same day the product is harvested. The scallops are shucked and rinsed in salt water on the boat. Fishing on the wild and wooly waters of coastal Maine in the dead of winter no ice is ever needed nor touches my scallops. Ice can change the flavor (good rule of thumb, never let fresh water/ice touch your seafood) The taste of these scallops can not be compared to what most consumers will find in the grocery store. Scallops sold in large supermarket chains are often culled and soaked for uniform size and color - white scallops are the end result. This process leaches out the natural pigments - and you can only imagine how that impacts taste. Similar to picking fresh fruit off a tree, scallops freshly harvested from the ocean will be flavorful, juicy, NEVER fishy or smelly, and be a special sensory delight to the most distinguished food connoisseur. (for the rest of us these scallops are just plain old "Yummy!")

My wild-caught Maine Sea Scallops were not caged and never penned on a farm. My scallops were allowed to swim wild and free on the bottom of the ocean in the waters surrounding the Blue Hill Peninsula before they were harvested (pretty good life I think). They have not been soaked in chemicals or rinsed with fresh water. Fresh sea scallops will smell like the ocean and be flavorful and not bland in taste. Your scallops purchased from us may have natural variations in color, they will not be pure white. Yellow and pink scallops are locally known in Maine as “Butter Scallops” and are highly desirable and requested by scallop connoisseurs who enjoy the colorful presentment on the plate along with their rich flavor. My scallops have not been processed commercially, so they include what is known by Mainers as the “sweet meats” which is a tiny muscle which is attached to the body of the scallop meat, some people enjoy eating these with their scallop, other folks prefer to removethem before preparation or feed them as a treat to their pets. (Our kitties love "daddy" when he comes home and prepares them "sweet meats") Sweet meats can be removed by gently peeling them off from the side of the scallop.

FEEL GOOD ABOUT WHAT YOU EAT - KNOW WHAT YOU BUY AND WHO YOU ARE BUYING FROM!! Eatingfresh seafood purchased directly from the fisherman operating a day boat means that you are accessing the freshest and highest quality seafood. Additionally, supporting seafood harvesters directly ensures that local small family-operated fishing communities will be able to compete with large processors and maintain traditional Maine coastal communities. Buying directly from fishermen ensures YOU a fresh product and ensures the fishermen receives a fair wage for his or her labor. Beyond that you are eating something that is all natural and truly organic!Captain Dana BlackDana is a sixth generation Native Maine fishermen who grew up in the small town of Brooksville, Maine. He began fishing on offshore boats out of Stonington with his father when he was three years old. He has spent his life on the water up and down the East Coast of New England offshore and inshore scalloping, lobstering, gill netting, diving, fish dragging, and shrimping- whatever could get him out on the ocean. Following in the footsteps of his Scottish immigrant ancestors, in 2012 he became a boat builder of sorts and completed the restoration of his 40' Webber Cove boat. His heart is on the water behind the wheel of this old scallop dragger. He fishes for scallops out of his home port of Blue Hill from December - March. Most of the scallops he catches are caught in the waters surrounding the Blue Hill Pennisula. From May - October he fishes for Lobster in Blue Hill Bay. He enjoys steaming out of the harbor on cold still winter mornings with sea smoke lifting to reveal the hills of Acadia National Park and watching the sunrise. He is an active participant and attends industry meetings and public hearings throughout the year to make sure the wisdom and knowledge of the fisherman is heard and hopes it is considered and used by administrators and scientists as they make and revise regulations to conserve and protect the scallop resource he values and loves so dearly. He divides the rest of his time between his winter home in Brooksville, Maine where he lives with his wife and two young daughters and their summer home at Spencer Pond Camps where he commutes over 282 miles roundtrip to haul his lobster pots. In 2009, when lobster prices hit a record low, and the State closed many local scallop grounds to fishing, he saw the need to diversify and took the opportunity to operate Spencer Pond Camps seasonally. Click here to see a video of Dana "juggling jobs" at camp and on the ocean

F/V Captain MorganSingle owner-operated vessel. You can feel good knowing you are supporting a small Maine family preserve their fishing heritage and keeping the vibrant coastal culture of Maine alive. The F/V Captain Morgan is a fully restored scallop dragger. Dana completed her restoration in 2012. She has been a scallop dragger for her entire career on the ocean and is a piece of our peninsula's history. Growing up in Brooksville, Dana often drove by what was then called the "Marie C III" admiring her lines in the water as she sat moored in Weir Cove in Cape Rosier. In 1978 she was built in Blue Hill Maine and she was labeled as the 1st boat out of the 40' Webber Cove Hull mold. She spent the 80's fishing in the Gulf of Maine and often returned home "loaded to the gills" with scallops, seagulls trailing her. She is rigged to fish "off the side" and a winch and pulley system is used to haul the drag back in and dump the contents on the dumping mat in the stern of the boat. Early quotes on her performance from her Captain after her 2012 debut "The old gal certainly hasn't forgotten what it's all about, she was made to scallop!"